OREANDA-NEWS. On 30 July 2008 OMZ OJSC (Uralmash-Izhora Group) (RTS: OMZZ; LSE: OMZD; OTC: UHMVY) announced that Izhorskiye Zavody, a part of OMZ Group, has completed the production of a unique transportation locking system for Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), India.

The lock is the first such system produced by Izhorskiye Zavody. At the central section, the unit is 14 meters in length and nine meters in diameter. Weighing 280 tons, the system incorporates a hermetically sealed camera designed to protect power plant personnel and the environment from radioactivity during the reloading of nuclear fuel. A rail guided trolley with a container for nuclear fuel moves inside the camera. An automated management system with hydraulic drive opens the external gate. When the trolley with radioactive load enters the lock, the external gate is closed hermetically. Then the mechanism opens an internal gate, and the trolley moves to the reactor.

From 23-24 July, tests of the hydraulic and other protection systems providing access to and exit from the lock were undertaken successfully. Representatives were in attendance from Kudankulam NPP, Atomstroiexport CJSC, the Directorate for Construction at the Kudankulam NPP site, Bezopasnost Federal State Unitary Enterprise, Atommashexport OJSC and Izhorskiye Zavody.

The equipment will be shipped to St. Petersburg sea port soon. Shipping the lock is itself a unique operation because of the unit’s sheer size. The lock will be disassembled into a number of sections, transported by road to Izhora River estuary by special carriers and then shipped by barge. Currently the company is developing a road route to the estuary, preparing to transport a model of the lock with the same dimensions. The road route will have to cross an electric railway. Special rail cars will raise overhead power lines. After delivery to the sea port, the lock will be shipped on to the customer in India.